For most of you, probably this poll is not new. But, on the eve before the United States goes to the polls to vote for the new President, Obama vs. McCain, it helps to have a little perspective. I typically would stay away from talking about politics in any form, but just simply: If the World could vote…

… Obama would win.

8 major newspapers conducted a worldwide(ish) poll testing the waters of who would win the vote, if we all had a say. Obama was the favoured candidate in all countries, with Canada chiming in with a 70% Obama vote. 75% of Canadians also indicated, in a follow-up question, that troops should be withdrawn from Iraq.

There is also an online poll, not connected with the above results, that is still ongoing at IfTheWorldCouldVote.com. As of the time of this post, Obama was the favoured candidate in most countries, with Canada chiming in with 88.5%

Early this morning, a Starbucks on West Broadway and Heather in Vancouver exploded.

At 2:30 am on the morning of February 13th, an explosion in the 600-block of West Broadway in Vancouver leveled several street-level stores, including a Starbucks and Taco Del Mar, and did some damage to the London Drugs across the street. The noise and shock wave awoke residents for many blocks around.

No injuries have been reported, and no structural integrity issues have arisen as a result of the explosion.

Police and fire crews are investigating what caused the explosion and whether or not it was deliberately set. Police Spokesman Constable Tim Fanning said that arson investigators are calling the explosion "suspicious." Eye witnesses are reporting a man running from the area after the explosion. That said, fire investigators are looking into a possible gas leak at Taco Del Mar as the source of the problem.

There is a business in Ghana that creates custom coffins no other custom shop does. These ‘bespoke’ luxury coffins are created to reflect a person’s life.

From an airplane to a lion to a shoe or a Coke bottle (shown), the shop fills orders for customers all around the world. And has been since the 1950s.

Asked about the most unusual design Doku’s company has been commissioned to produce Doku, without a second’s hesitation, said: "That’s easy, it was back in 1992. A German doctor called us and ordered the womb of a woman."

The company is run by Emmanuel Doku and was started with the inspiration of another called Ataa Owuo. With Ataa’s grandmother died, he realized she had never travelled anywhere during her life. So he made her an airplane coffin "to take her to heaven."

This has got to be the best Facebook feature upgrade ever. And I’m being serious here. I may even think it’s bigger than allowing for applications as addicting and wonderful as Scrabulous.

Facebook is removing the mandatory "is" from status updates. Now your status can be something other than action-related. And grammar nuts like me can breathe a sigh of relief.

No more: "Arieanna is hating the WGA strike"

Instead: "Arieanna hates the WGA strike"

Much better.

The planned removal of ‘is’ will happen tonight.

The news will be warmly welcomed by thousands of activists who have joined more than 500 anti-"is" Facebook groups, including the "Campaign to lose the mandatory ‘is’ from status updates" and the "I die a little bit inside when I see grammatically incorrect status updates" group.